An unprecedented personal and professional perspective on the true effects of child beauty pageants and food restriction.

What’s wrong with putting kids in beauty pageants?FATLASH! is an adult woman’s story of growing up as a “Princess by Proxy.”

What’s wrong with putting kids on diets?FATLASH! is a glimpse into the real-life consequences of food bans and attempts to restrict what children (and adults) eat through force or coercion.

What’s the connection?Read FATLASH! and find out.

Amid heated controversy about the obesity epidemic, Toddlers and Tiaras, and bans on large-sized sodas, Karen Kataline shares her real-life story and conveys a powerful message about what not to do and why. Foreword by Martina Cartwright, PhD., RD who has coined the term “Princess by Proxy.”

Karen’s true story reads like a novel and is for general audiences. Especially for women and parents of girls, it’s a must-read.

“Karen’s touching memoir is informative, funny and personal, like curling up on the couch with a good girlfriend. Do yourself a favor and get this book. It might lead you to make a new friend—your own body, however it shows up.”—Laurelee Roark, cofounder, Beyond Hunger; coauthor, It’s Not About Food: End Your Obsession With Food and Weight

“Karen’s story sheds new light on an area which is in tremendous need of greater understanding.” —Marilyn Van Derbur Atler, author, Miss America by Day

“Karen puts a human face on food restriction and gives a powerful example of what not to do.” —Bernard J. Baars, PhD, coauthor, Cognition, Brain, and Consciousness, 2nd Ed.

“Reads like fiction. An authentic and insightful memoir for a diverse audience. Karen bares all, from her late night missions to the kitchen to the secrets behind her ‘fear of thinness.’ Highly recommended.”—Tamara Pryor, PhD, and Christina N. Bokencamp, LPC, Eating Disorder Center of Denver

Child Beauty Pageant Memoir, FATLASH! Wins Three National Awards

Fatlash! Food Police & the Fear of Thin, a memoir by professional social worker, Karen Kataline, MSW won top honors at the 2013 National Indie Excellence Awards (NIEA)

The National Indie Excellence Awards are judged by independent experts from all aspects of the indie book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers and professional copywriters. They select award winners and finalists based on overall excellence of presentation in addition to the writing.

Before she knew what a calorie was, at the age of seven, child performer Karen Kataline was allowed to have only five hundred of them. Forced into the spotlight by her weight-obsessed mother, Kataline spent her childhood trapped in a world of pageants, performances, and perpetual hunger. She later attempted to use food and weight-gain to shield herself from the eyes that roved her.

Fatlash! is a first-person account of the impact of putting children on display, and policing what they eat. With children provocatively posed by their parents on shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and the increasing hysteria over obesity in America, Fatlash! reveals the connection between the exploitation of children, and the unconscious reaction in some girls and women alike, to use weight as protection from sexualization, objectification and overexposure.

A new term, “Princess by Proxy” Syndrome is introduced by Martina Cartwright, Ph.D, RD. in the foreword to Fatlash! “Princess by Proxy” is a subcategory of Achievement by Proxy Distortion (ABPD), is a pattern of adult behaviors that occurs when an adult’s pride and satisfaction are achieved through a child’s activities. The syndrome is rampantly evident in the child pageant circuit and on programs like “Toddlers and Tiaras” and their spinoffs like “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” where the most extreme pageant moms are rewarded with exactly the kind of financial gain and recognition they seek.

Kataline says she wrote the book as a cautionary tale of what not to do, and to spur greater education and public discussion about how to create healthy boundaries.

Karen Kataline, MSW received her master’s degree from Columbia University and has practiced in a variety of non-profit and corporate settings. She has taught communications and public speaking at the New School for Social Research, Parsons School of Design in New York, New Jersey’s Montclair State College, and Fairleigh Dickenson University, among others. FATLASH! won a first place Evvy Award from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) and is a finalist in the Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards, to be announced in June, 2013.

Martina Cartwright, Ph.D, RD., wrote the Foreword for Fatlash! She is a registered dietitian with a Ph.D. in Nutritional Science and Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has written extensively about child pageants and eating disorders and is credited with coining the term introduced in the book, “Princess by Proxy.”

From BroadwayWorld.com:

“People don’t hate being fat enough,” bioethicist, Daniel Callahan wrote in an editorial for The Hastings Center Report. Callahan’s “edgy strategy,” according to The Atlantic Monthly, is to “shame fat people” in order to combat obesity. He says that since “diets, drugs and appeals to their health aren’t working, they should be “shamed and beat upon socially.” Karen Kataline, MSW author of FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin says this not only creates and exacerbates eating disorders and weight problems, but it is Callahan and people like him who ought to be ashamed.

According to ObesityMyths.com, “Thirty-five million Americans went to sleep one night in 1998 at a government-approved weight and woke up “overweight” the next morning, thanks to a change in the government’s definition. That group includes “overweight” celebrities like Will Smith, Pierce Brosnan, NBA stars Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Tom Cruise, Donovan McNabb, and Sammy Sosa.”

That hasn’t stopped weight and appearance-obsessedresearchers like Callahan who have come so unhinged about other people’s body-size that he advocates a “tasteful” form of shaming. He goes on to suggest that overweight people somehow don’t know there’s a social stigma against obesity. He insists that we ought to embark on a new “era of zero tolerance for body fat.”

“We have a billion dollar weight loss industry that hasn’t been able to come up with a magic pill to eradicate obesity,” Kataline says, “but Mr. Callahan believes he can “make” people thin by proclamation and by normalizing bigotry and cruelty.”

“What’s the message this sends to children? ‘Diversity, tolerance and bullying prevention’ are really important but not if you’re fat? Looking good and being socially acceptable is more important than character, principles or sound mental health? Is this a strategy of which the Lesbian/Gay (LGBT) community would approve? Perhaps Callahan should propose a new slogan, ‘God Hates Fat People.'”

In Kataline’s book FATLASH! she details her experience with her own weight and appearance-obsessed mother who also put her in child beauty pageants. At sixteen however, Kataline weighed 285 pounds. She says this was an unconscious reaction in part, to her mother’s obsessive demands to be thin. This is what she refers to as a FATLASH reaction.

Kataline maintains that the causes of obesity are varied and complex, “but none respond positively to shame, force, or one-size-fits-all solutions. In many cases, extra weight is an unconscious boundary of protection against exactly the kind of intrusion and cruelty that Callahan thinks is good policy. In other cases, it is an act of defiance and strength against sexual abuse. Does Mr. Callahan believe he ought to be able to remove such psychological protection with force?” Kataline asks. “It is pathological hubris to think that’s even possible, but to Callahan and people like him, the scourge of excess weight trumps all other social problems.”

“Many people with eating disorders and weight problems do a good enough job of hating themselves almost out of a sense of obligation, before others even get the chance. Treatment for these patients involves working to undo the cycle of self-hatred-not to perpetuate it. In recovery they learn that people like Callahan have a problem, but it can’t be eradicated with empty proclamations.”

Karen Kataline, MSW, is an author, speaker and advocate. She received her master’s degree from Columbia University and has practiced in a variety of non-profit and corporate settings. She has been an assertiveness trainer and public speaking coach for a Manhattan training firm and has taught communications at the New School for Social Research, Parsons School of Design in New York, New Jersey’s Montclair State College, and Fairleigh Dickenson University, among others. She also lends her operatic voice to a variety of fundraisers and community events. FATLASH! is her first book.

A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research on public perceptions about obesity was presented under the headline, “Obesity’s a Crisis, But We Want Our Junk Food.” Karen Kataline, author of FATLASH! Food Police and the Fear of Thin says that’s not a fair reading of the study.

“Eating disorders are rampant among people who had self-appointed food cops in their lives.”

An AP-NORC poll about obesity made news this week and was reported under the headline, “Obesity’s a Crisis, But We Want Our Junk Food.” Karen Kataline, author of FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin, says that’s a misreading of the poll results.

The poll indicates that while many people acknowledge that obesity is a problem, there is, “little support for policies that would constrain consumer choices such as limits on the amount or type of food that can be purchased or taxes on unhealthy foods or drinks.”

“That doesn’t mean people are extolling the virtues of junk food,” Kataline says. “It means they understand the difference between nutritional education and nutritional force. They don’t want someone else making decisions for them, whether it’s junk food or jicama.” Kataline further asserts that when a “one-size-fits-all” approach is applied and people are prevented from making food choices on their own, there is a serious risk of backlash, or as Kataline calls it, FATLASH.

Kataline knows whereof she speaks. Her mother was weight and appearance-obsessed and put her on a 500 calorie-a-day diet at the age of seven. This resulted in a serious weight problem in adolescence and a disturbed relationship with food.

“Eating disorders are rampant among people who had self-appointed food cops in their lives. They are now left with the job of re-learning how to recognize their own appetites. Not that many years ago, Susie Orbach first wrote about this in ‘Fat is a Feminist Issue.’ There simply is no substitute for personal choice in these matters.”

Another aspect of the AP-NORC Poll which garnered much less attention showed that 95 percent of those surveyed believe that obese people face some level of discrimination due to their weight.

“That’s a stunning level of agreement,” Kataline says, and further suggests that rather than forcing people to lose weight so that they might become more socially acceptable, we should pay more than just lip service to the notion of “diversity” and learn respect for other people’s boundaries. Kataline adds that obesity for some people is a psychological attempt to create and solidify just such boundaries.

Karen Kataline, MSW received her master’s degree from Columbia University and has practiced in a variety of non-profit and corporate settings. She has taught communications and public speaking at the New School for Social Research, Parsons School of Design in New York, New Jersey’s Montclair State College, and Fairleigh Dickenson University, among others. She lends her operatic voice to a variety of fundraisers and community events.

FATLASH Author Karen Kataline Stirs ‘Toddlers & Tiaras’ Controversy in Australia with Own Story of Years in Child Beauty Pageants

The ongoing uproar in Australia over ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’ prompted Australian women’s magazine, DailyLife.com.au, to ask Karen Kataline to write about her experience in child beauty pageants. The story was picked up by major Australian newspapers like the Sidney Morning Herald and she guested on local and national talk shows for the ABC.

My fear is that an entire generation of girls will feel the need to write a book like FATLASH in a few more decades.

Many Australians have been up in arms about “Toddlers and Tiaras” ever since it was imported from America over a year ago. Protestors from Sidney to Melbourne have taken to the streets with signs like “Keep Their Tiaras Off Our Toddlers,” and “Child Pageants Aren’t Pretty.”

Karen Kataline, the author of a new memoir, FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin -A Cautionary Tale, was asked to write an article for DailyLife.com.au about her personal experience in child beauty pageants and to include her professional mental health expertise to further explain the issues involved.

In the sixties when it was much more rare, Kataline’s “stage mother on steroids” put her in child pageants and on severely restrictive diets. Her piece was reprinted by Australian newspapers like the Sidney Morning Herald and the Brisbane Times. This prompted calls from local and national radio shows for the ABC.

“I never thought I would grow up to see the culture make so many of the same mistakes my mother did.” Kataline said. Illustrative of the progressive and generational problem with sexualizing children and putting them on display, Kataline’s mother was also put on the stage at the age of three and expected to be the next Shirley Temple.

Among the major questions people have is what these girls will be like when they grow up and whether the extreme pageants of today will negatively affect them. Kataline’s answer is an unequivacle yes. She says she wrote the book as a “cautionary tale,” to warn parents of these dangers and to urge them to change course. She fears that an entire generation of girls will feel the need to write a book like FATLASH in a few more decades.

Kataline encourages and applauds the protests and says they’re better than banning Toddlers and Tiaras and programs like it. “It doesn’t take a pageant to sexualize a child. Just like food bans, it simply makes them more attractive and they go underground.” Kataline said. “We need to educate parents and audiences alike about the developmental dangers of sexualizing children. If we can do that, these pageants will fall out of favor and we can better protect girls from being sexualized whether they are in pageants or not.”

Review copies upon request.

Karen Kataline, MSW, received her master’s degree from Columbia University and has practiced in a variety of non-profit and corporate settings. She has taught communications and public speaking at the New School for Social Research, Parsons School of Design in New York, New Jersey’s Montclair State College among others. Fatlash! is her first book.

Martina Cartwright, Ph.D, RD., wrote the Foreword for Fatlash! She is a registered dietitian with a Ph.D. in Nutritional Science and Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has written extensively about child pageants and eating disorders and is credited with coining the term, “Princess by Proxy.”

Princess by Proxy: New Memoir Introduces Term to Explain Extreme Beauty Pageant Moms

With the phenonomena of Toddlers and Tiaras and Honey Boo Boo comes a breed of parent that has been around for decades but has never had a name. Now, the behavior of “pageant moms on steroids” is termed “Princess by Proxy” by Martina Cartwright, PhD, RD in a new memoir, Fatlash! Food Police & the Fear of Thin—A Cautionary Tale by Karen Kataline, MSW.

” …Child ‘glitz’ pageants will fall out of favor when people are better informed about the consequences.”

Programs like Toddlers and Tiaras and “Honey Boo Boo” have reignited controversy about “pageant moms on steriods,” who live vicariously through their children, but there has never been a name to describe it until now. The syndrome has been termed “Princess by Proxy” by Martina Cartwright, PhD, RD in a new memoir, Fatlash! Food Police & the Fear of Thin—A Cautionary Tale by Karen Kataline, MSW.

“Princess by Proxy” Syndrome, a subcategory of Achievement by Proxy Distortion (ABPD), is a pattern of adult behaviors that occurs when an adult’s pride and satisfaction are achieved through a child’s activities. It starts with the best intentions. Parents and adults who lovingly and compassionately support children’s activities are normal. Those with ABPD objectify their children, seeing them either consciously or unconsciously as a means to obtain financial or social gains for themselves. Studies show that sexual objectification can put a child at risk for abuse and neglect.

Princess by Proxy is rampantly evident in the child pageant circuit and programs like “Toddlers and Tiaras” and their spinoffs like “Honey Boo Boo” where the most extreme pageant moms are rewarded with exactly the kind of financial gain and recognition they seek.

Kataline grew up with just such a mother. Put on the stage at the age three, she was exposed at an early age to being stared at and inappropriately displayed wearing skimpy outfits in front of audiences. Her tale warns against this kind of sexualization, not by banning pageants, but by educating parents and audiences alike about the dangers of exposing children in a way they are not prepared for. “I wrote my story in part, to illustrate in human terms, how this kind of sexualization affects normal development. While it doesn’t take a pageant to sexualize a child, I believe pageant moms and these child “glitz” pageants will fall out of favor when more people are better informed about the consequences,” Kataline said.

By recognizing the characteristics of Princess by Proxy Syndrome, and working to protect children from it, only then will those same children be able to develop normally so that they can enter into a healthy adulthood.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Author and speaker Karen Kataline, MSW, received her master’s degree from Columbia University and has practiced in a variety of non-profit and corporate settings. She has taught communications and public speaking at the New School for Social Research, Parsons School of Design in New York, New Jersey’s Montclair State College among others. Fatlash! is her first book.

Martina Cartwright, Ph.D, RD., wrote the Foreword for Fatlash! She is a registered dietitian with a Ph.D. in Nutritional Science and Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has written extensively about child pageants and eating disorders and is credited with coining the term, “Princess by Proxy.

FATLASH is author Karen Kataline’s term for the backlash that results when food bans and dietary controls are imposed on people, especially children. With the hysteria over childhood obesity, parents like Dara-Lynn Weiss have taken to putting their kids on diets and they speak publicly and proudly about it. Kataline has a personal story to tell as well as the professional expertise to explain why this is the worst possible approach.

“Without boundaries and respect for their choices, people may submit to dietary controls now but develop a FATLASH reaction later.”
When author Karen Kataline heard about Dara-Lynn Weiss who put her seven-year-old daughter on a diet and then detailed it in an article for Vogue magazine, Kataline didn’t just have an opinion as a mental health professional. She had an opinion borne of personal experience.

Kataline’s new book, FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin –A Cautionary Tale vividly illustrates the impact of her early years in child beauty pageants and severely restrictive diets imposed by her “stage mother on steroids.”

Like Dara-Lynn Weiss’ daughter Bea, Kataline’s mother was obsessed with her weight and appearance. At seven, her mother put her on a 500 calorie a day diet. “I didn’t understand what a calorie was or why I wasn’t allowed to eat like everyone else. It took several more decades before discovered how I really felt about it and about being put on display in child beauty pageants.

Kataline explains how food and weight can become a battleground between mother and daughter on which important developmental issues of separation and individuation are fought. At sixteen, she weighed 285 pounds. “Unconsciously, it was the best way to get back at my mother. It also guaranteed that there would never be another beauty pageant.” Kataline said.

FATLASH is what Kataline calls the backlash that often results when self-appointed food police attempt to control what other people eat in order to “make” them lose weight. “The person on the receiving end becomes either dependent on the control or rebels against it. Either way, they lose a sense of ‘body ownership’ and the ability to self-regulate. This is a particularly fertile breeding ground for eating disorders and a life-long maladaptive relationship with food.”

Bea Weiss is only the latest high profile example of a child with a diet and appearance-obsessed parent. Recently, Chaz Bono revealed that he had been put on diets as a child despite the fact that as the American public knows, Chastity Bono wasn’t overweight. Kataline isn’t surprised that Bono now struggles with a significant weight problem. She further asserts that his current “diet on display” which mirrors the way he was displayed as a child, isn’t likely to yield lasting results.

Kataline has teamed up with Martina Cartwright, Phd, RD who wrote the foreword for FATLASH! and has coined the term “Princess by Proxy.” Dr. Cartwright concurs that parents who put their children on diets are often projecting their own problems with weight and body image onto their children. Dara Lynn Weiss is just such an example, who admits in the Vogue article that she spent the past three decades hating how her body looked and “devoting an inordinate amount of time trying to change it.”

Kataline is a professional speaker and advocate who encourages parents and lawmakers alike to learn about healthy boundaries so that children can develop a sense of body ownership and body integrity. Without such boundaries, they may submit to dietary controls now, but are likely to develop a FATLASH reaction later.

FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin -A Cautionary Tale is available at a holiday discount now on Amazon. Also available at Barnes and Noble and wherever books are sold.

Karen Kataline, MSW, received her master’s degree from Columbia University and has practiced in a variety of non-profit and corporate settings. She has taught communications and public speaking at the New School for Social Research, Parsons School of Design in New York, New Jersey’s Montclair State College among others. Fatlash! is her first book.

Martina Cartwright, Ph.D, RD., wrote the Foreword for Fatlash! She is a registered dietitian with a Ph.D. in Nutritional Science and Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has written extensively about child pageants and eating disorders and is credited with coining the term, “Princess by Proxy.”

“There’s an obvious problem when children are called upon to set boundaries that parents and other adults won’t set.” That’s the conclusion of Karen Kataline, a child pageant veteran, mental health professional and author of FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin.

At it’s core it’s really about parents who are using their children to get their personal needs met.

This week, Honey Boo Boo (Alana Thompson) pretended to sleep through an interview with Dr. Drew Pinsky and then snorted in his face, saying she doesn’t like when fans try to talk to her.

“Alana may well have had the sanest reaction to an insane aspect of our current culture,” says Karen Kataline, a child pageant veteran and author of the new book, FATLASH! Food Police and the Fear of Thin. “Alana knows what she’s been trained to do and appears to be fighting back by refusing to do it.”

Kataline has expressed concern about Alana’s future and says that her growth and development will very likely be affected by her early sexualization and exploitation. “Given what we’re watching, I wouldn’t be surprised if Alana develops adolescent anorexia rather than obesity as some have predicted.

Kataline’s book, FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin reveals her own experience in child beauty pageants with a “stage mother on steroids.” In Kataline’s case, her mother put her on 500 calorie-a-day diets at the age of seven. “It’s no accident that weight, appearance, diets and display are all connected. At it’s core it’s really about parents who are using their children to get their personal needs met,” says Kataline, also a mental health professional.

Kataline says she wrote the book in part, as a cautionary tale to help parents and others understand the impact and consequences of putting children on display in programs like Toddlers and Tiaras. According to Kataline, the problem of sexualizing and exploiting children is generational and, she says the only way to stop the trend is through public awareness and education.

Author Claims Food Bans and School Lunch Controls Make People Fatter

Mayor Bloomberg’s soda ban was rubber stamped by the New York City Board of Health last week. School cafeterias are imposing new calorie limits. Karen Kataline says these are textbook cases of what not to do.

It is pure folly to think that restricting what other people eat will result in either passive obedience or weight loss.

Karen Kataline does not like food restrictions—whether they are on large-sized sodas, part of the new school lunch programs, on salt, trans-fats or even German chocolate cake. “It may seem counter-intuitive,” Karen says, “but banning specific foods or other ingredients actually feeds food obsessions, eating disorders and weight problems.” In the case of recent food revolts in school cafeterias in Kansas and a growing black market on chocolate syrup in New Bedford, Massachusetts, “It also makes hungry and angry kids,” she said.

Kataline knows whereof she speaks. When she was only seven, her mother put her on 500 calorie-a-day diets. FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin, is Karen’s new book which details her midnight raids to the refrigerator, her experience in child beauty pageants and how by the age of sixteen, she weighed 285 pounds.

“You’d think we’d know by now, that when we put something off limits and treat people as if they are uncontrollable, they often behave that way. Normal substances become more appealing than ever and the result is more FATLASH.”

With an MSW from Columbia University, Karen also explains through her personal story, the phenomenon of parents who live vicariously through their children and how women and children alike, may actually use obesity as protection from unwanted attention and sexual display.

FATLASH! tells a powerful story of how Karen felt exposed, vulnerable and naked, though it took her 25 years to find out why.

With a Foreword by Martina Cartwright, Phd., a registered dietitian who also writes about child beauty pageants, FATLASH! is a groundbreaking, personal account of why food restriction and food regulation is a bad idea, whether it is imposed by an obsessed parent or a misguided lawmaker.

Author and speaker, Karen Kataline, MSW, has practiced in a variety of non-profit and corporate settings. Fatlash! is her first book. For more information visit http://www.karenkataline.com

Fatlash! Food Police and The Fear of Thin— A Cautionary Tale will be available November 1 from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold.

Press Release:

New Book Boldly Addresses a Connection Between the Obesity Epidemic and Child Sexualization

Karen Kataline’s new memoir Fatlash! Food Police and the Fear of Thin—A Cautionary Tale couldn’t come at a better time. Amid heated controversy about obesity, shows like “Honey Boo Boo” and Toddlers and Tiaras and bans on food comes an unprecedented story of a child exposed to it all—and how she survived to talk about it.

“Sometimes at school when I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand the black mascara from the previous night’s performance left a smear on my skin.”

Before she knew what a calorie was, at the age of seven, child performer Karen Kataline was allowed to have only five hundred of them. Forced into the spotlight by her weight-obsessed mother, Kataline spent her childhood trapped in a world of pageants, performances, and perpetual hunger. She later attempted to use food and weight-gain to shield herself from the eyes that roved her.

With children provocatively posing on shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and the increasing cases of obesity in America, Fatlash! reveals the connection between the exploitation of children, and an unconscious need to use weight as a means of protection.

Kataline’s story exposes the truth about putting children on display, and policing what they eat. Now is the time to take action against both–and Fatlash! does just that.

Author and speaker Karen Kataline, MSW, received her master’s degree from Columbia University and has practiced in a variety of non-profit and corporate settings. Fatlash! is her first book.

Martina Cartwright, Ph.D, RD., wrote the Foreword for Fatlash! She is a registered dietitian with a Ph.D. in Nutritional Science and Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has written extensively about child pageants and eating disorders for Psychology Today Online.